Colors
by Boyz
Summary: (Three years after the neutral ending) Frisk was able to use Asgore's soul and escape the underground, leaving the remaining monsters trapped. Now, three years after, a new human treks up Mt. Ebott in search for the fabled creatures. Find out what happened to the Underground once their king mysteriously perished and Frisk went missing. (Not sure about pairings, Rated T)
1. Prologue

It seemed like her entire world was against her. Family, both immediate and distant, were either pleading with her to stay or laughing at her apparent childish antics. Friends from grade school and the internet were doubting her seriousness or ignored her complete notion of climbing the mountain. Essentially, Corsina was left alone in her endeavor to trek the fabled peak. With everyone around her dismissing her quest, the only person who gave some sort of support or counsel was her father.

He brought her to the town closest to the base of Mt. Ebott, which wasn't much more than a village. They were walking through a steady flow of market patriots and supply wagons when Corsina's father stopped at a stall to look at some goods. As he browsed from the counter, Corsina wandered forth, looking for nothing in particular. She eventually reached the outer reach of the market district and found the silhouette of Mt. Ebott. Behind the simple mountain, the sun was setting lazily to produce the lovely colors of yellow, orange, and faded to a deep blue. It was a painted scene in front of the girl, but she had never felt more sure of anything in her life. It was hard to describe, but with the source of the her favorite childhood fable in sight, she could almost hear the sloping peak call to her. _Something_ in her was telling her to climb it, to skip the last night she had with her father and simply run up the scape and vanish from the "over ground." Some friends even told her that she was obsessed with the tale of the monsters and should seek medical help. But this was something different; the idea of trekking the mountain came to her in a dream. It was years since her parents retold the tale of the monsters, so surely, that wasn't it? As stated before, she couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she _needed_ to scour the surface, she _needed_ to hike up the rocky face, and she _needed_ to be among the trees.

Silently, she studied the gentle scene before her, for the next evening, the view will be of the village, engulfed by the moderate peak. It was an unknown amount of time before her peaceful glance of Mt. Ebott was broken by a tug at her sleeve. Following the new presence, Corsina found a child by her side, holding the cup of her jacket. The child's hair was just long enough to touch their shoulders and wore a striped sweater; a near blank expression as adorned on their face.

"Can I help you, sweetie?" Corsina crouched down to be face to face with the child, who seemed anywhere between 10 and 13 years old. The child stared at Corsina for a moment, then at Mt. Ebott. Corsina smiled and glanced with the child's eyes. "Yeah, I'm going there soon. Tell me, do you think I'm too old to believe in fairy tales too?" That was one thing that was constant in her life; everyone telling her that she should just grow up and focus on her future.

While Corsina was staring at the mountain, the child quickly wrapped their arms around her neck and embraced her gingerly. This action startled Corsina, however, after her initial flinch, she returned the hug.

"Aww," Corsina giggled lightly and gave a heartwarming smile to the child. "You're so friendly and-"

"You can't give up," the child faintly whispers in Corsina's ear. She held her breath in confusion, waiting for the child to say anything else. Subconsciously, Corsina loosened her grip around the young human. "Stay determined…"

Corsina didn't have the chance to question the strange words of the child before they let her go and calmly walked away. As the words bounced around in her mind, Corsina stared after the mysterious child until they seemed to disappear behind the semi-busy market street. Her brain was dazed and still processing the strange words by the time her father had returned from the stall. He was hesitant to say anything to his daughter because of her unfocused gaze into the crowd of villagers. Instead, he cleared his throat to gain her attention.

"I bought you something," her father held up an odd looking statue. Corsina straightened herself up and examined the object in his hands. It was thin and long and had an unknown figure engraved in it. It resembled a serpent with two tails and three eyes.

"What is that?" her voice was laced with her slight disgust for the statue.

"It's uh," her father handed it to her and placed his hands in his pocket on his jeans, "Lucky entity of this region. In trying times, it's local lore to rub the three eyes of the snake. And when facing a decision you trace the tails to help choose the right one."

As her father spoke, she followed the directions, first making tiny circles on the eyes and then running her thumb down the tails. "Oh, that is pretty cool," Corsina grinned a little and brought her eyes to her father. "Thank you, Dad. But why?" _Did he somehow know_ _I_ _was going to sneak out of the hotel and climb the mountain?_

"Well, since you're super fascinated with this area, figured I should get you a souvenir." Her father pulled a hand out of his pockets and draped it around her shoulders, applying slight pressure to turn his daughter away from the summit of Mt. Ebott. "Now, we'll spend the night here then we've got to get back, a'ight? I don't have any more vacation days and you have finals coming up." Using his arm, Corsina's father led the way back to the hotel; she enjoyed the golden flowers sprouting up along the roads.


	2. Chapter 1: One Misstep

"This is ridiculous!" the fierce warrior shouted at her capturers. "Release us and I won't pummel you into oblivion!" She kicked and squirmed as much as the rope would allow, but to no avail. It took an extra three monsters to grab Undyne and toss her into a cell. Before she had a chance to jump up and run out the door, her capturers slammed it shut and locked it; added an additional two locks to compensate for Undyne's impressive strength. Although the door was clearly secured, the four guards cautiously stepped back as the caged monster tackled with all her might. She pounded a few times with forceful kicks before she came to the conclusion that it was pointless. An evil scowl was wore as she looked through the few bars to the guards. "Let me out of here!"

The guards were silent to her threat, clearly more confident that she was tied up and behind the cell bars. They gave no answer and simply turned to walk away. Of course, that caused Undyne to boil to her breaking point.

"You no good swine! Absolute trash!" More kicks and stomps echoed down the corridor of cells.

"U-Undyne!" the timid voice from across the hall called out. "Pl-please! I-it's no u-use…"

Undyne ceased her tantrum and huffed in frustration. "Stupid," she muttered while fidgeting with her bound hands, "Who do they think they are?"

"I-it's my f-f-fault. I-if I d-didn't ma-make the m-magic s-s-suppressors..."

"Hey, no one's blaming you," a more leveled voice spoke out to the timid one. "There's no way you could've known that those numb- _ **skulls**_ got a _**hand**_ on the prototypes." The third voice gave a curt chuckle.

"Now is not the time for your stupid puns, Sans!" Undyne vented some of her anger at her friend.

He was unfazed by her outburst, "Oh, just _**loosen**_ up a bit, will ya?" Another quiet chuckle followed by, "Get it? Because we're tied up."

"Oh my god," Undyne's voice was laced with her appear eye roll at the short skeleton.

"C'mon, that was a good one," Sans said, but more to himself than to his captured friends.

"Can we focus on how we're gonna get outta here without our magic?!" Undyne's short patience was fleeting already.

"Don't worry, Papyrus will notice us missing," Sans paused for a moment, "Eventually."

"We don't have time for that!" Another stomp from Undyne's cell, "If they can suppress our magic, they might be able to use it on the queen! She's in danger!"

"Mh," Sans was just tall enough to glance out of his cell to the darkened hallway the separated him and his friends, "I didn't peg you as the type to be magic reliant."

"What was that, you bag o' bones?!"

Another glance to the outside and Sans noticed a guard down a little ways; his head was turned slightly to hear their conversation. An idea formed in his brain. Across the hall, Alphys was sneaking glances at Sans; they made straight eye contact and she knew what he was thinking. Needless to say, she opposed the plan immediately by shaking her head feverishly. It was risky and held many unreliable factors, but it seemed to be the only immediate way any of them were going to get out. However, Sans was not deterred by her obvious lack of enthusiasm for this escape plan. "Hey, Undyne, I'm sorry I gotta do this, but," he said softly, "You know this whole situation is your fault, right?"

"What?!" There was a loud thud on the wall between Undyne and Sans' cell from where she kicked it, "How is this my fault?!" She kicked again. "Take that back, you ungrateful, little rat!" With each word, Undyne would use her strength to kick at the wall. As a precaution, Sans stepped away from the stone barrier.

"Oh yeah, definitely. How does it feel knowing you put our lovely queen in danger?" The skeleton looked out of his cell at Alphys' bars; she was no longer seen. He hoped she was doing what he intended.

"How dare you!" Undyne shouted with the full capacity of her lungs. "If anything, it's your fault we got captured by these wanna-be soldiers!" She kept beating at the wall to intimidate Sans; and unknowingly draw the attention of the guards.

"I don't know Undyne, seems to me that it was your lack of in _ **sight**_ that caused all of this." Sans knew that was a low blow, but he needed her to completely lose it, otherwise she wouldn't be the distraction Alphys needed to escape.

"Sans! You son of a…!" Thankfully, Undyne had used all of her pent up rage to kick one last time and break up a whole in the stone wall.

Sans scurried back, keeping a safe distance between him and his angry friend. The noise from the cell wall crumpling brought the guards running to examine the damage. As Undyne continued to shout vulgarity at Sans, the guards rushed to unlock both cells. The skeleton held no resistance as a large pig monster grabbed him and dragged him out. More guards were ordered down into the dungeon as they needed to separate Undyne and Sans. Once the guard with the snout had a grip on Sans, he quickly began to work. He pretended to trip over his slippers in order to get his guard to bend over and scoop him up. With stealthy hands, he was able to grab the set of keys on his hip.

Alphys had popped her head up on the opposite side of the bars. The guards were too busy dealing with Undyne's furious kicking and intense shouting to see Sans toss the keys to the third prisoner. The skittish scientist was able to loosen her rope bonds with her dinosaur like tail and easily grabbed the keys and began to fumble with them, attempting to free herself. It was difficult to see, but Sans had guessed that she needed more time to escape. _One more carefully placed pun should do the trick..._

"Undyne," he called one last time to his struggling friend. She ceased fighting with the guards in order to give him the stink eye, "You're spaghetti is more like _**spit-**_ ghetti." Just to add salt to the wound, Sans flashed his trademark grin and winked at her.

"I'm gonna kill him!" Undyne was able to free herself from two guards and stand upright. There was a brief moment where Sans honestly feared for his life.

Before she could charge the guard with Sans, two more pig guards rushed down the dungeon stairs and pushed Undyne towards the last cell on the opposite side. Sans swore he saw literal steam emit from her gills by the time the five monsters forced her into the new cell. The guard holding Sans tossed him into the cell next to the entrance; there were only a total of six cells in the dungeon. It was where the former King Asgore locked the human children away before he found out how to hold their souls. He had only locked away two before a previous royal scientist figured out how to harness their souls.

Now, in some cruel irony, Sans and his friends were being kept here; as if their previous atonements for their actions wasn't enough. They all had learned three years ago that "kill or be killed" was not the way to live by. It took a single human child filled with determination to show them that. However, not all monsters felt that way. There will always be the rebels who disagree, but this group had proved their might by perfecting Alphys' prototype of magic suppressors. And the worse part was that no one knew they were here; no monster knew the three of them were out hunting for a specific herb for their dinner. Papyrus used to be their only hope for escape; however, before the pig guard slammed the door shut, Sans caught a glimpse of a yellow blur heading towards the dungeon stairs. Alphys was making a break for it.

* * *

Once night had engulfed the village just below Mt. Ebott, Corsina hurriedly packed a bag, and snuck out of the rented hotel room. Luckily, her father was knocked out from the trip and she was able to particularly walk right past him. Minimal effort to sneak in the shadows were required as the village was dead asleep and the only lights were scattered across the windows as certain individuals were still awake. Corsina easily avoided these lights and continued her journey to Mt. Ebott. With just a slacked backpack of food and water, she rushed out of the outskirts of the village and to the base of the peak. As she was getting closer to the fabled mountain of monsters, she lessened her pace and began to marvel at the shrubbery.

In all honesty, the trees, bushes, and critters were the same as all over the farther reaching mountains and hill tops. The trees were still brown trunks with green leaves, the thickens and bushes lush and poking with twigs. Crickets still chirped, an occasional flutter of a bird flying overhead, and the hushed scurry of a tiny woodland creature. Everything was as it should be.

However, to Corsina, this was something straight out of a book. It was the most wonderful scene she had ever seen. She had waited so long to trek up this mountain, months of motivation and planning, brushing up on camping and hiking tips and tricks, and finally just being on the mountain side was almost overwhelming to her. Why this was so important to her was unknown; but she was here. Her face would either grin a goofy grin of victory or shocked into an expression of awe at her accomplishment. Despite her parents' wishes, her siblings' teasing and ridicule, and her friends' general lack of support, Corsina had _made it._ Her entire being was filled with achievement.

After a moment, she found herself simply gazing up at the pale moon hanging over the summit. She smiled at herself for being so awe-inspired and continued to climb upward. It wasn't a dangerous slope, but as she ascended, a breeze began to drift along. In the slack of trees, a stronger gust would cause her hair to whip around her face, momentarily blinding her. At first, she didn't mind; however as she kept going up, it was getting annoying. Tiny rocks and pebbles would roll by her feet and leaves danced around her body. Her initial plan was to simply climb straight up the mountain, reach the top, then return in order to go home with her father. Although, this was the first snag in her carefully laid out plan; the wind was picking up and a simple path was proving difficult. Just as a precaution, she decided to alter her course to seek better shelter from the wind.

Side stepping away from the straight way, Corsina trekked on.

What seemed like minutes for Corsina was actually hours. Adrenaline was pumping through her veins and she kept on going. Because of her excited physique, she hadn't realized that her detour had led her to the other side of Mt. Ebott. All night was spent hiking upward and further away from her known path. It wasn't until her wristwatch began to beep that she glanced at the time. According to the device, it was half past six in the morning. Suddenly, she stopped and glanced around. The sky was still dark, but the stars and moon were gone. Turning around, she searched for the sun; she could barely see it over the summit of Mt. Ebott.

"Wait, what?" she whispered in confusion. She thought back to the evening before. _Wasn't the sun on the other side?_ Corsina looked to the base of the mountain in hopes of easily spotting the village. It was nowhere to be seen. No stone buildings, no small glow of lights, and no sign of civilization. She was surrounded by wilderness. "Uh oh," she bite her lip in worry.

Now she was faced with a decision; should she continue on her journey, or attempt to find her way back? Of the latter, she would have to find the village eventually and her father. Why would she put in so much effort to get half way up the mountain and then quiet when she was a little lost? No, she obviously had to keep going. Although, that didn't change the pit of worried in her stomach.

Rather than blindly continuing on, she decided to make markers, so she can find her way back. She broke a few branches and made a few large circles with her boots. Her progress was slowed, but she didn't stop. On her fifth marker she was making, she felt her stomach growl with hunger. Reluctantly, she tossed her pack off and fished around for a bag of chips. Instead, she pulled back the statue her father bought for her. Before she could put it back, there was a new noise.

It sounded like a large creature breaking twigs and crushing leaves. Corsina jumped around and saw nothing. Against her better instincts to grab her bag and run, she inched closer to the source of the noise.

"Hello?" she called out. Idiot _! What are you doing? Did you learn anything from those books?_ Corsina immediately regretted calling out; but nothing answered.

She crossed the small clearing and reached the opposite side of the trees; but nobody came. Sighing with relief Corsina turned on her heels and stepped towards her bag. But then, there was a lump in her stomach, and it wasn't hunger this time. Her body became weightless and her hair wiped upward. Her frantic heart nearly leaped out of her chest as her lungs emitted a horrific scream.

Corsina had fallen down. But this wasn't a simple trip and fall situation; no, she had fallen down an enormous hole. Every fiber of her being was panicking and embracing for impact which never came. The sudden fall and the endlessness into the pit overworked her soft heart and caused her to black out before hitting the ground.

An undetermined amount of time later and Corsina was regaining consciousness. Her immediate reaction was a complete body convulsion to compensate for the impact; however she didn't feel anything. Pushing herself upright, Corsina inhaled sharp breaths as her hands glided over her body looking for anything out of the ordinary. Thankfully, nothing was broken and everything was in it's place. But that was strange, shouldn't she at least have some scrapes and bruises? However, her hands found her skin regular and without abrasions.

"What?" she muttered to herself.

Corsina easily picked herself up and dusted off her clothes, quickly finding the statue of a three eyed, two tailed serpent her father gave her. Shoving it in her pocket, she attempted to gain her bearings of this new area; the only thing she could clearly see was the bed of golden flowers under her. This cavern was gifted with dark shadows all around the edges and since the entrance was positioned on the other side of the mountain, sunlight wouldn't filter in until a few hours past. Rolling her shoulders and cracking her knuckles, the only thing she could do was explore the cavern presented in front of her.

When she started off, her steps were careful and calculated, hoping that she wouldn't miss another giant hole for her to fall down. Her vision eventually adjusted to the added darkness which gave her a tiny bit of confidence to her new setting. She kept a hand along the wall and followed, hoping to find a passage or some vines she could climb out on. Corsina was able to find an open way and continued on.

With every step, the cavern seemed to brighten up and make itself more visible to Corsina; she quickly had even confidence to step away from the wall. An archway with strange markings appeared; it seemed a little ominous to Corsina, but it was the only way to go. Swallowing her fear, she stepped under the arch. She entered another darkened room, but since her eyes adapted to the darkness, she was able to see something on the other side.

On the far side of the new room, Corsina saw a bouncy figure with almost a bobble head. The proportions seemed odd and definitely not human. For a moment, she studied this strange animal; whatever it was, it was pacing back and forth. The silhouette of this creature alarmed her, but it was it's voice that drove her to stand still and silently observe.

"Oh man, oh man, oh man! Where is she? She promised! She promised!" The creature turned and walked back, "She said first thing this morning! Where is she? Oh, c'mon man!" Another turn, "Undyne, where are you? You promised me!" With a final turn, Corsina's natural urge to call out kicked in.

"Hey," Corsina said just loud enough to grab the creature's attention. Whatever animal it was, it stopped pacing immediately by her voice and slowly turned its head towards her. "How'd you get down here?" Corsina's mind just assumed that it was a child that fell down the same hole as her.

Well, she wasn't entirely incorrect. Of course, she never really believed in monsters.

"Yo," he said quietly, taking an easy step towards her.

"Are you hurt lil' guy?" She asked a bit more confident.

"Yo. Yo!"

It took all of five seconds for the creature to run across the clearing and nearly tackle Corsina into the cave wall. When he got closer, Corsina realized that he wasn't human. She stepped back and just about slammed herself into the wall in fright of this creature. He had no arms, a thick dragon-like tail, large head with a few spikes. A shirt was covering his torso and pants on his waist to his bare feet. Only one word came to Corsina's mind; _monster._

"Oh sweet Jesus!" Corsina gasped while her back pressed against the jagged wall.

"Yo! I know you! You're a human!" The yellow creature was bouncing right in front of her.

"What are you?!" she blurted out; manners no longer existed.

"I'm Monster Kid! Or, well, after I get trained, Monster Knight! Undyne is suppose to train me to fight! She isn't here yet, but she will be!" He was speaking quickly and ramming his words together. Corsina was only able to process one of his many words.

"M-monster?!" she gaped.

"Well, duh!" He clearly rolled his large eyes at Corsina's speechlessness, "Everyone just calls me MK for short though!"

"Ev-everyone? There's more?" Corsina questioned.

"Yo! There's loads more! All monsters live here!"

"What?" she exhaled the breath she was unwillingly holding.

"Don't you know the story?" MK took a step back in order to get serious.

"Uh, yeah," Corsina knew which one he was referring to, but she didn't actually believe it. _Could it really be true? Or did I hit my head when I fell?_ "B-but, I always assumed it was just a story; nothing more than a fairy tale."

"Nope!" MK bounced really close to her face and used his tail to look deep into her eyes, "Do I look like a fairy tale to you?"

"Most definitely not," she muttered; still unsure if her eyes were playing tricks on her.

"Oh! Yo!" MK used his tail to jump away from Corsina, "I know someone who would love to meet you!" The monster used his tail to slip behind Corsina's legs and nudge her forward. "C'mon! She's super nice and is our queen!"

"Queen?" she found herself repeating his words.

"Yeah! Let's go see her!" He gave her another nudge with his tail and bolted off to the opposite side of the cave.

Corsina hesitated and deeply questioned her sanity. _Monsters? And they have a queen? What the hell is going on? Maybe I am obsessed with that bedtime story._ She racked her hair away from her eyes and sighed; uncertainty filling her very soul. After she dropped her hand, her palm drifted across her pocket and the statue inside. Pulling it out, she bit her lip and wondered if she should truly consort a wooden statue to make such a decision. So many things could be wrong; this could all be a horrible hallucination from the fall and she could really be trapped in a cave, or monsters could be real, and she was about to embark on a completely different journey than she intended. Gently, she made tiny circles on the middle eye of the serpent, hoping it would give her an answer. When it didn't, she used her thumb to trace the spine and used the tails to decision her fate.

"Yo! You coming or what?" MK shouted from the other side of the dark room.

Placing the wooden piece back into her pocket, Corsina let her actions answer; she jogged after Monster Kid and deeper into the cave under Mt. Ebott.


	3. Chapter 2: An Important Lesson

By nothing short of a miracle, Alphys was able to evade the guards and escape the dungeon. All thanks to Sans; if he didn't mention Undyne's cooking skills, there was no way she could have made it. Her anger to Sans was just enough to draw the attention of all nearby guards into the dungeon; now came the dreadfully hard part. Just because she managed to get upstairs and around the corner didn't mean she was home free. Alphys was out of breath when she found a pillar to hide behind. As she attempted to catch her breath, she pondered what her next move should be. Maybe go straight to the queen? Undyne was correct, she was in danger. But, was that too obvious? Surely, by now they successfully separated Undyne and Sans, so they know that she is missing from her cell. Where should she go? What should she do?

She was beginning to panic, heaving her chest heavily and sweat rolling down her face. Although she was the royal scientist, she had no idea there was a dungeon; so, where was she? Down the hall, she heard loud footsteps and assumed it was the guards. Holding her breath and remaining absolutely still, the guards slowed by the pillar, snorted for a trail, but kept moving forward. Alphys thought her heart was going to explode. Her knees went weak and she slid to the floor, finally releasing her breath.

After a few moments of much needed rest, Alphys' brain turned back on. Why couldn't they sniff her out? Surely her constant sweating was enough of an indication for them? Sneaking a glance or two from behind the pillar, something black caught her eye. Her white lab coat was smudged with a thin layer of coal. Tracing the pillar with her hand, she pulled it away and her palm was covered as well. _W-why i-is there so-so much coal r-r-residue?_ Rather than pondering this, she hastily rubbed the residue on her lab coat and body. In fact, she probably used too much, nearly covered entirely with the chalky coal, but when her timid nature, she didn't want to take any chances.

Peaking with a shaking black head around the pillar, Alphys' eyes darted side to side in order to assess her surroundings. Once she found no guards, she bolted from the pillar and further away from the dungeon and her friends. To say she got lost was an understatement; she was able to maneuver around the few guards still on the search for her, but she kept getting turned around and backtracking. The royal scientist was on the verge of simply giving up and surrendering to the nearest set of guards.

Alphys was no longer sneaking in the shadows, just hesitantly walking down the corridors. There was a branching way to her left, and when she looked down the hallway, she saw faint light; and echo flowers. The secret dungeon was by Waterfall, that meant she was close to Snowdin and could get to Papyrus faster. She immediately ran out of the dungeon and onto the soft grass that filled Waterfall.

"I-I g-g-gotta get t-to Pap-Papyrus!" she muttered as she ran past an echo flower.

* * *

"Snow?!" Corsina held out her hand in front of her. _This is a scientific impossibility! How could there be snow underground?_ Sure enough, a few tiny flakes landed on her fingers, spending chills up her spine and down her legs. "Oh god," she muttered. Crouching down, she shoved both hands into the snow already on the ground. Without a doubt, it was definitely snow. "Woah," she gasped.

"Yo! Are you gonna gawk at the snow all day?" Monster Kid questioned, slight impatience in his tone. "First you were amazed by the ruins, and now the freakin' snow? Geez, are all humans this easily impressed?"

Corsina pushed herself up and brushed the white flurries off of her, "Sorry, I have an inquiring mind." She shrugged and crossed her arms; now her hands were cold, along with her bare legs. _Why did I wear shorts?_ Of course, there was no way she could have known she was going to fall under the mountain and there would be snow. Shaking slightly from the drop of temperature, she caught up to MK, who was tapping his foot.

"Yo, we're never gonna meet the queen if you keep stopping! And we gotta be fast, so I can be back in time for Undyne's training!" They picked up pace a little, but for Corsina's longer legs, it didn't matter.

"That name," Corsina shuddered at the white flakes falling, "You keep mentioning her. Who is she?"

"She's only the greatest fighter ever!" His face lit up with enthusiasm, "She used to be the Captain of the Royal Guard, but since the disbandment, she helps monsters learn how to defend themselves."

"Why would monsters want to defend themselves?"

"Well, ya'know, in case of fighting and stuff."

The human deteched something different in his voice, almost as if she asked something personal. Her curiosity spiked, but she wondered if she should ask him about it. "Is there a lot of fighting down here?" Her mouth betrayed her brain and simply asked just as the thought occurred.

MK sighed and dropped his head a bit, "In the past few months, yeah."

"Any particular reason?" She blurted out. With a side glance, she finally realized that she was striking a nerve; so, in order to avoid his discomfort, she hastily added, "If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine. We can change the subject."

From the corner of her eye, Corsina saw MK gently nod his head and remained silent. Guilt pegged at her heart as they began to walk through a snow topped forest. _This underground is massive, how long was I hiking?_ As they ventured forth, some leaves gave out and dropped snow on their heads. Thankfully, that lightened the mood a bit. Obviously, the added snow on Corsina's skin made her tremble with chill and shiver with frost. Rubbing her hands together, she resorted to friction for warmth. MK didn't seem to mind the cold as he picked up his head and used his tail to toss up snow at Corsina. His childlike wonder was warming her heart, but her physical body was dropping in temperature.

As he began bouncing around as his normal self, Corsina smiled at him. She loved the snow and the colder months out of the year, but not when she was dressed for a brisk hike in the middle of summer. Although he was a monster and maybe even a figment of her hallucinations, watching MK frolick and kick up the snow was fun. If she had worn the right clothes, she would join him. Alas, she was ill-prepared.

They emerged from the trees to more open area of snow; the only difference was that it wasn't snowing. Corsina raised a brow at the vastness of this underground. "How much snow is there?"

"By the ruins? Quite a bit," MK answered while breaking out in a short jog. He found a patch of ice and skillfully slid across it. "Woah! Yeah!" He hopped with victory and used his tail to waved Corsina for encouragement. "Yo! C'mon!"

"This seemed dangerous, for a hallucination or real life," she muttered. After a fast look around, she knew that she would have to slid across the ice. With careful steps and steady hands, Corsina eased her way to the opposite side.

"Yo! That was way too boring! I almost fell asleep watching you!" MK mocked.

"Hey, hey, hey," Corsina quickly snapped her hands back under her arms, "Some of us aren't equipped for the winter climate." She stuck her tongue out and he responded the same.

"Pff! Excuses!" The monster child turned and led the way again.

It wasn't long before Corsina's nose began acting up. Everytime she would sniffle, MK would give her a strange look, but never actually asked what she was doing.

"MK," her breath lingered in the air before disappearing, "I-is there somewhere we can stop and warm up? Like, make a fire?"

"A fire? Yo, why not we stop at Grillby's?"

"Is it warm?"

"Duh! Of course it is!"

Corsina sneezed and shaked her head as a feeble attempt to keep her face warm, "Sounds good." Her mind immediately went to work, thinking of crazy scenarios about whoever Grillby was and what horrible monster he was. MK wasn't bad, but he was just a kid; who knows what these adult monsters were capable of? And then there was the possibility that this was still an elaborate hallucination from hitting her head; so what exactly was she afraid of? Maybe of the slight probability that monsters are real and she was journeying to meet their queen? Even if she denied MK to tag along, there didn't seem to be a way out through the hole. Logically, there was only one way to go.

The duo had to cross a few more patches of slippery ice before they reached a long wooden bridge. Corsina was hesitive, but MK was easily walking across it. She did her best to follow his steps exactly. By the time she reached the other side, tiny cuts littered her bare skin. Tiny nicks on her hands, small leizures on her exposed legs, and a couple drops of blood on her face were results of her attire. If only she could warn herself before hiking out the night before.

Her appearance was hackneyed and jaded by the time they saw the lining of the town. _Wait, there's a town under here too?_ Corsina tried her best to withhold her gawking as they approached. A large sign reading "Snowdin" welcomed them. _This is incredible! Who would have thought so much was under Mt. Ebott; or that I really have an excessive imagination?_ Once the two entered the town, Corsina subconsciously teased up at the sight of more monsters. Of course, they weren't as savage and terrifying as she was predispositioned to believe. There was a Christmas tree, accompanied by a handful of presents, an inn attached to a general shop, and buildings further down. Upon entering the cosy town, Corsina's internal temperature began to rise because of the added activity. She was thankful for that.

Before she had a chance to gasp at the casual monsters and structures, MK piped up, "Yo, don't go stopping and staring at anyone. They'll think you're weird."

The human quickly corrected herself in order to avoid awkward stares and to be more polite to the citizens of Snowdin. With the addition of more diverse monsters, Corsina was slowly relaxing with the natural flow. Still odd that the old fairy tale was true, but she was gradually becoming accustomed to their existence; whether in real life or in her head. However, neither of them realized that the passing monsters were staring at them. Corsina would nod and mutter a greeting as they continued on; the older monsters quickly whisper amongst themselves. Their hushed words and not so subtle actions were ultimately left unnoticed by the duo.

It wasn't long before Corsina was able to spot a short building with a neon sign on the front. She remained quiet as MK led her to the front door and used his tail to open the door. A rush of warm air smacked Corsina's face along with a delicious aroma in her nose. Her stomach immediately growled with hunger as she realized she hadn't eaten since prior to her sneaking out to hike up the mountain. Circling the bar was a lovely tune as a group of dog monsters were sitting around a table; one with shifty eyes, it looked like a larger couple with black hoods, and two different dogs with armor. Corsina felt like an idiot smiling as big as she was, but she finally accepted them and enjoyed witnessing so many diverse monsters. Even though when she walked into the bar, all of the eyes eventually landed on her.

With a huge grin, Corsina waved at them and said loudly, "Hey there!"

The bar went quiet as all the monster ceased whatever they were doing to stare at her. No one answered her. Yet still, MK and Corsina didn't piece together that the monsters never expected to see another human for the rest of their lives. And now, there was one out of the blue, standing in the doorway of their bar. Without a doubt, the monsters would be hesitant.

"Is that a human?" one monster questioned another.

"Why is a human here?"

"What are they doing here?"

Similar questions quickly arose from the relaxing monsters as Corsina glanced around. One word kept echoing back to her, "human." Finally, that's when it clicked in her head that she was the odd one here. Now she was on the receiving end of the judging; the pit in her stomach told her it wasn't pleasant. Her welcoming smile faded into pressed lips as she turned to MK.

"I think we should leave," she whispered.

"Yo! You're probably hungry too, right? Grillby has the best burgers in town!" Before Corsina could grab MK, he dashed right in and hopped on an open seat at the bar.

"Wait, don't-!" she muttered, but it was too late. _Oh god, I'd rather just freeze outside of town._ Fidgeting with her hands, she crossed her arms under her armpits and stepped further inside.

"A human?!" a voice towered over the others. "Where?!" From behind the larger of armored dogs, a lanky skeleton slid into view.

Corsina flinched at his loud voice and his sudden appearance, stopping completely in her tracks. _A skeleton monster? Why am I so surprised by this?_

"Human!" He stood tall and proud while pointing a stern finger at her. The skeleton took long steps until he was right in front of her. _Oh sweet jesus, he's tall!_ She didn't move an inch as he tilted his head and locked eyes with her. With a more quiet voice, he asked, "Do you enjoy puzzles?"

"Um," she uttered her confusion while glancing around, silently looking for the right answer written on another monster's face; she found none, "Uh," Swallowing a portion of her fear, she gave her best response, "It depends on the type of puzzle, I suppose." A lackadaisical shrug of her shoulders to further show her indifference.

"Mh, what is your opinion of-" the skeleton was cut off by MK at the bar.

"Yo! Papyrus! She's hungry. Let her eat before-"

"You're hungry?!" a large grin appeared on his skull; Corsina couldn't help but take a defensive step backwards. "Fear not human! For I, The Great Papyrus, shall make you the most delicious meal you've ever had!"

"You'll what?" She didn't have a choice in the matter. The tall skeleton quickly grabbed her forearm and began to walk out of Grillby's. "Hold up, w-wait!" Through the open door, a gust of frozen air whipped at her face. All of the open cuts on her face and body stung again. _Not the cold, not the cold! I want the warmth!_ Just as the door behind her was closing, she gave MK a silent plea for help. Monster Kid rolled his eyes and was about to run after them, but his ordered food arrived and his attention was momentarily diverted. _You little traitor!_

She was shivering already as Papyrus confidently strolled down the snow covered path. Corsina did her best to keep up with him, nothing short of jogging along side him. Unfortunately, she didn't have to keep the pace for very long. After they past the library with the incorrect sign, the new pair of monster and human were stopped by two different monsters; Corsina didn't recognize them from before entering the bar. The human held her breath as the monster on the right, a heftier size pig, took a half step forward. Corsina shifted uncomfortably just by the glare he was giving her.

Papyrus must had felt her adjust, because he glanced back at her. "What is wrong, human?"

"They don't seem to like me so much," she confessed.

"Nonsense! They are probably just jealous that you, a human, have the privilege of hanging out with me!" The skeleton released Corsina's arm and stepped towards the pig monster. _I severely doubt that._ "Greetings! How are you-"

"Turn the human over to us, and you won't get hurt," he snorted.

Corsina clenched her fists and shuddered at his voice; something told her that he was willing to fight. But, why? Why was everyone so strange about seeing a human? Surely other humans had fallen down in the past? Or was this just monster behavior? Now more than ever, she wished that this was just a crazy hallucination.

"What? No way; she's hanging out with me. If you would like to join us, please feel free-" again he was interrupted, but this time it wasn't the pig monster speaking.

Rather, seemingly to appear out of nowhere, a large trough spun into thin air and smacked the skeleton hard. Corsina gasped loudly as she watched Papyrus fly sideways into the trunk of a tree and slide onto the ground. Behind her, she heard scuttering of the regular monsters running away in fear. The human was shocked still.

"Yo, Corsina!" MK's voice called to her. "You gotta run! Get away!" The little kid ran in front of her and stood between her and the three monsters. "I'll hold them off!"

Of course, MK held no resistance to the large pig monster in front of him. The massive creature easily picked up the smaller one with a hand and lifted him high. Corsina had to cover her mouth with both of her hands, helpless to the scene before her.

Although she hesitated, something warped into view as well. This random object was a huge bone and it smacked the pig so hard on the back, he tossed MK into the snow. Corsina rushed to the quivering kid and did her best to check to see if he was still breathing.

"Human!" Papyrus' voice shouted at her, but her mind was not registering anything. "Human!" He called again, after rolling out of the way of another trough.

She glanced up with wide eyes at the battle; the pig monster was summoning trough after trough to bombard Papyrus into exhaustion, not caring if he hit trees or bushes. The skeleton did his best to dodge the glowing fixtures, not to much avail, but he was also able to land a few bone whacks to his opponent. This was absolute madness; whether it be in her mind or not, this was the most ridiculous thing she could ever witness.

"You need to run! Get to Queen Toriel! Hurry!" Papyrus shouted directions at Corsina, but she was baffled by his glowing eyes and hands to realize he was helping her.

"Yo," MK meekly said with a strenuous voice, "Didn't ya hear him? You have to go."

The words were sinking in her head, but for some reason, she couldn't pick herself up to run. It felt like the world around her was rapidly gaining speed while she was becoming a statue. _Run! Stand up and run!_ Her body was weak and her heart was beating out of her chest. _Just go already!_

There was a noticeable lag in the fighting around her; and for a moment, time was moving as slow as she thought. Corsina looked up to examine the battlefield, but it was still going on. Blindsiding Papyrus square in the spine, the trough smacked him across the open path and into an enclosed portion of trees. His body flew with such force that it splintered a tree in half; and like that, Corsina didn't see him anymore. All that remained was a strip of his scarlet scarf. The pig monster had won.

"No," she piped up, "No!" She barely knew this monster, but he was defending her, trying to help her, and he was just beaten into a tree. What was wrong with her? Why didn't she listen to him? "Papyrus!" She called after him. It physically hurt her heart that he didn't answer back. Although they had just met, he had nothing but good intentions for her. Could she dare call him a friend?

Finally, the human was able to push herself up and rush away. But towards the gap in the trees where the skeleton had been thrown. And that was it. Something stopped her dead in her slow tracks. Her arms could move, but her torso and legs were numb. Oddly enough, she couldn't feel the cold anymore either. Looking down, there was a terrifying claw sticking out of the snow. It was able to reach all the way to her chest and had such sharp nails that pierced her body. An aura of orange lingered around the edges of the monster claw, but only where her dripping blood hadn't covered it. Her hands were shaking and the pain began to seep in as time dragged on. Before her, the second monster, a large cat with a whipping tail, was smirking at her. He must had waited for the human to stand to attack. Either that or he was really impressed with himself for hurting her so badly.

"What?" she coughed up the word, along with blood. The snow around her was staining a strawberry red from her many puncture wounds. The hand tense up and the claws dug into her sternum twisted slightly, crushing her bones and causing agonizing pain. She whelped in torment as the sword-like fingers dug in deeper. Corsina's breathing was in vain as her lungs were filling up with fluids and her vision was becoming hazy. She thought she heard MK call out, but her brain was not working properly. Her body continued to fight; however within seconds, the human had died.

* * *

"Oh my good god!" Corsina thrusted away and landed on her butt. With a heaving chest and shaking hands, she began to furiously examine her body for stab wounds. Timid finger ran over her torso and legs as she continued to look for any indication of the pain she just experienced. There were no visible markings, but her brain was still crying out in pain.

"You can't give up," a voice said to her.

Corsina held a horrified expression as she looked upward to the source; it was the child from the nearby village.

"Stay determined…" the child repeated.

The terrified girl glanced at her surroundings to find the lack of snow and monsters; instead, there were noisy market merchants, and busy people with baskets of food. On her other side, Mt. Ebott looked peaceful as the sun set behind it.

"What the hell was that?" she gasped at the child. They waited a moment before speaking again.

"What happened?"

Still panting, she explained as best she could, "I-I went to the mountain. And, and, I fell down this hole. Monsters, there were monsters living underneath, just like the tale said. Snow and a bar in a town. A-a skeleton and pig were fighting with glowing things around them. And then, I think I-I died. It felt so real."

"It was." The child said calmly.

"What? How could it've been real? I died!"

"You did." Corsina glared at the vague child. They continued when she didn't ease up her evil stare, "Determination. That's what brought you back here. This spot was the last place you felt determination. If you die in the underground, it'll bring you back here. Or to another spot where your soul was filled with determination."

"I-I dont-"

"You have to go back."

"Why?!"

"You weren't the only one who died, were you?"

She thought back and the imagine of Papyrus being violently smacked into the trees replayed in her mind. Had he died? "No," she whispered.

"Make sure they live, all of them."

"How do I do that? How do you know all of this?" But the child simply turned and began to walk away. "Wait! Who are you?" Corsina called after them, but they didn't even look back.

She wanted to chase them and ask more questions, but her body was still in torture by the claw attack. Corsina winced in agony and the child disappeared once more into the crowd of busy humans.


	4. Chapter 3: This Time, With Feeling

"This is ridiculous!" the fierce warrior shouted at her capturers. "Release us and I won't pummel you into oblivion!"

Undyne's voice carried and filled the entire dungeon. Her resistance was unparalleled; the guard who was escorting Sans quickly shoved him in the next cell to her's so he could rushed to assist the other guards. Once Sans was safely locked away, he shook his head groggily. It had been a while since the last reset. So long in fact, he forgot what it felt like. At first, he was confused and had an enormous case of deja vu. But after Undyne insulted the guards, he knew what had happened. He remembered every word she shouted and all of her initial tantrum stomps and kicks. _Why did this happen?_ Sans wondered his cell, as if these stone walls would provide him an answer. It had been years since the last reset, and he enjoyed not having to relive each day. _Did that human return? What purpose could they have? What do they want?_

"U-Undyne!" Alphys begged. "Pl-please! I-it's no u-use…"

Undyne ceased her tantrum and huffed in frustration. "Stupid," she muttered while fidgeting with her bound hands, "Who do they think they are?"

"I-it's my f-f-fault. I-if I d-didn't ma-make the m-magic s-s-suppressors..."

Sans signed at the familiar conversation between the three of them. "Hey, no one's blaming you." He didn't want to reuse his jokes, but to them, it would be the first time hearing them. Despite his knowledge of this outcome, he decided to try helping Alphys escape again; hopefully, time wouldn't reset so quickly after.

And thus, he kept everything the same, his awesome puns and getting Undyne angry enough to kick a hole in the wall that kept them apart. His hands were fast enough to grab the keys and toss them into Alphys' cell. Sans was less excited about seeing the royal scientist sneak out of the dungeon this time; however he still had a ping of hope that she could accomplish more before another reset.

* * *

"I can't believe I'm doing this," she muttered continuously. "This is stupid, easily the most reckless thing I've ever done!" Corsina had snuck out again at night and began her hike up Mt. Ebott. "Why am I doing this?" The human held no shame as she was out in the wilderness and would speak as loudly as she wanted. "I freakin' know what's going to happen! That dumb pig and cat monster are gonna kill Papyrus and me, what difference would it make?"

Her climb upward was staggered and anything but straight. With the moon as her only light, so raked her memory as to how she found the hole to the underground before.

The night dragged on, and small events were reminding her how to find the hole. The wind blowing her hair into her eyes, and then her random scramble into the thicker forest. Every cricket chirp and rustle of leaves seemed to be in the perfect place. She was retracing her steps from a different universe. The hours ticked on and eventually, the early rays of sunlight were beginning to rise. Corsina remembered that by this point she had lost sight of the village and began making markers to find her way back. A few broken branches, large circle spots, just basic things. She marched on. Although she made sure to eat more before sneaking out, her stomach was growling for sustenance. Thinking back to her previous endeavors, she learned to eat and trek at the same time. Hopefully she would have eaten enough to reach Snowdin and avoid those two monsters.

She reached the familiar clearing of trees and waited for that snapping twig. Corsina had enough time to consume her protein bars, and trail mix before the mysterious noise emitted from the other side of the clearing. Leaving her backpack again, Corsina dashed to the other side. However, different from the first time, she accidentally ran straight into the hole. Just like the first run around, she screamed as she fell down.

The fall was shorter than she remembered and she didn't black out this time. Rather than landing on her back, her chest hit the ground first and her face was immediately covered in golden flowers. Moaning in discomfort, she pushed herself up and rolled her shoulders. With a knot in her neck and small sprain in her ankle, she soldiered on through the ruins; keeping a hand on her lucky charm. When she entered the second room, she found MK's silhouette pacing around, just like before.

"Oh man, oh man, oh man! Where is she? She promised! She promised!" The creature turned and walked back, "She said first thing this morning! Where is she? Oh, c'mon man!" Another turn, "Undyne, where are you? You promised me!"

There was a sigh of relief when she saw him; the last time she saw him he was being choked by that horrible pig monster.

"Hey there!" she called out, more excited than anything.

"Yo," he said quietly, taking an easy step towards her.

"Aren't you a sight for sore eyes," she let out a huge exhale as he slowly approached.

"Yo. Yo!" he exclaimed.

Corsina smiled as he ran across the corridor to meet her. Where she was expecting a running jump and hug from her friend, MK slid to a halt right in front of her.

"Yo! I know you!"

Still grinning ear to ear, Corsina was about to bow and hug MK, but he quickly added to his previous statement.

"You're a human!" MK's eyes were wide with excitement; just like he was seeing her for the first time.

"What-" her words were lost as she realized what the child had said the evening before; it's called a reset. _That's why my dad was acting like before, because everything has reset._ Her heart dropped like a ton of bricks. MK didn't recognize her because he didn't know her.

"I'm Monster Kid! Or, well, after I get trained, Monster Knight! Undyne is suppose to train me to fight! She isn't here yet, but she will be!" He was speaking quickly and ramming his words together. This time, she was able to understand him completely.

"Oh, so you're a monster?" she attempted to act surprised or scared; but honestly, she couldn't put much effort into it. It was great being able to see him again, but he didn't know her. _So, absolutely everything reset, except for me._ Corsina didn't like that. Why should she have the knowledge of future events?

"Well, duh!" His large eyes rolled, just like before, "Everyone just calls me MK for short though!"

"Everyone? There are others?" Corsina's moral dropped and she couldn't remember what to say to him. _Should I even say the same thing? Maybe we can avoid Snowdin and not put Papyrus' life in danger._

"Yo! There's loads more! All monsters live here!"

"M-monsters, you say?"

"Don't you know the story?"

"Of course I know," she faked a worried smile, "Most of us assume it's just a story."

"Nope!" MK bounced really close to her and used his tail as leverage to look into her eyes, "Do I look like a fairy tale to you?"

This was the point where she almost lost it; where the tears appeared and threatened to roll down her dirtied cheeks. _It feels like a fairy tale_. "No, not at all."

"Oh! Yo!" MK used his tail to hop away from Corsina, "I know someone who would love to meet you!" The human already knew the answer, but she allowed him to respond. "C'mon! She's super nice and is our queen!"

"The queen?"

"Yeah!" he wrapped his tail behind her legs and nudged her forward. "Let's go see her!" MK then dashed to the opposite side of the cave. This time, she didn't wait as long; she wondered if she could change the outcome if she got to Snowdin quicker.

As they walked, she remained unfazed by the integrity of the ruins in the maze-like cave. She didn't want to waste anytime; that child back at the surface village called this a "reset." Maybe she could alter the course. For Papyrus' sake, she would definitely try.

* * *

The duo were lightly covered in snow and frost by the time they left the tall trees of the forest. MK was pleased with himself, having successfully smacked a snowball in Corsina's face. Bouncing out of the lining of foliage, he adorned a massive grin and turned back to his human friend.

"Ha! Yo, I got you good!"

Despite Corsina's precautions for the colder weather, she was still shivering. The short frolic in the snow and her more appropriate clothing helped her stay warmer, but after MK hit her in the bare face with a snowball, she was sniffling again. _Crap, I can't let him see me cold. We can't stop ay Grillby's this time_.

She shook her head to have the remaining white chunks fly off, "It was a nice shot."

"It was an _amazing_ shot!" MK continued to gloat. With his head held high, MK turned and ventured forth.

Corsina was unable to restrain a sneeze before following MK to the icy ground. She was more comfortable sliding across the paths, but still weary about the support of the ice. MK would tap his foot impatiently as the human eased her way to the other side.

Once they passed the patches of ice, Corsina couldn't help but lightly shake her body for warmth. MK began to study her actions; and Corsina saw his changed demeanor. _No, we go straight through Snowdin, or around. No stopping._

"Yo, you seem cold," he voiced his concern.

"Ah, not too bad," she attempted to play off her discomfort, "A little chill is good for the bones."

"Are you sure? We're getting close to town, we can stop by Grillby's-"

"But I'm good, I swear."

MK seemed to raise a nonexistent eyebrow at her, but he wasn't quite disheartened. "Yo, you wanna grab a bite?"

"I'm not too terribly hungry, maybe later?"

He held a quizzical stare at her, but was crafty enough to still get around her constant negative answers, "Yo, I'm hungry so we should stop anyways."

Corsina halted in her tracks and dropped her jaw at the pridely walking monster child. _You son of a bitch, I'm trying to avoid someone's death and you want to eat?_ With a horrified glare, Corsina slacked behind MK for a few steps to recollect herself. _Well, I guess it's not his fault he's hungry. There's no way he could know that Papyrus is ultimately in danger._ Before her lack of presence was noticed by MK, she rushed back to his side and preoccupied herself with possible ways she could avoid the confrontation with the pig and cat monster.

In the distance, Corsina saw the "Welcome to Snowdin" sign and she still hadn't come up with an alternative way around Grillby's. With every step, her heart began to quicken and her brain would shut down a little more. How could she save Papyrus? MK's life was in danger too, but it was never confirmed if he actually died after her. Either way, he got seriously hurt because of her; she would find a way to make it right, for both of them. _This time, everyone lives._

Although, her confidence was fleeting when they entered the monster town. Just as before, Corsina nodded and whispered a polite greeting to all the passing monsters. She also realized that the older monsters were surprised by her; they gave her stares and had hushed conversations with the closest friend. She felt the same way as the first time entering Grillby's; judged. Despite their accusing eyes and quiet talk, Corsina remained respectful and as polite she could be to all other monsters. She almost forgot that she was the odd man out in the underground.

The neon sign of Grillby's was on when they reached the bar. Corsina opened the door for her friend and he gave her a worried look. "Yo, you sure you ain't hungry? After Snowdin, it might be a bit before we get to eat again."

Just as she was going to answer him, something shifted in the distance that momentarily caught her eye. Behind MK and further down the main street of Snowdin, Corsina saw two dark figures approaching. She narrowed her vision and brought them into focus. It was that pig and cat monster. _Already too late._ With a long sigh, she looked back at MK and smiled. "Ya'know, it smells delicious in there. I think I will get something."

MK brightened up and replied with a large grin and nod. He dashed in and straight to an open seat on the bar. Corsina glared at the terrible duo that killed her and Papyrus before, but entered the bar regardless. Of course, she was still hopeless to save him or herself.

She was able to reach the bar and sit next to MK before the bar fell silent. It was slightly easier to take in the awkwardness the second time around; but she still felt everyone's eyes on her back. MK had taken the liberty to order two sets of fries for them. The whispers began to circle around her as the word "human" echoed and bounced off the walls. She kept her head lowered and face hidden as much as she could; hoping to avoid further confrontations inside the bar.

"A human?!" a familiar voice shouted over all others. "Where?"

Corsina couldn't help but smile at his distinctive voice and upbeat attitude. With a goofy grin, she turned to see Papyrus wearing a matching one. It was wondrous seeing him alive. She barely knew this monster, but it was still amazing seeing his positive and cheerful disposition. It was refreshing from the impending doom they would soon face.

With a definitive point of the finger, he walked to stand tall and proud over her. "Human!" Holding back happy tears, she tilted her head in order to keep what she considered to be eye contact with him. "Do you enjoy puzzles?"

She giggled at his question and answered, "I love puzzles."

"Mh, what is your opinion on-" again, she didn't hear the end of this question.

"Papyrus," but it wasn't MK who interrupted him, it was the barkeep. Corsina turned to see a monster made entirely of fire, yet he wore glasses. She raised an eyebrow at him, but he was unfazed by her. "Let her eat. You can't expect her to figure out any puzzles on an empty stomach." The fire monster laid a plate of fries in front of her and MK.

"Mhm, excellent point, Grillby!" Papyrus took a seat next to Corsina and leaned against the bar. Grillby paid him little attention as he returned to his stationary post at the far end of the bar, wiping glasses. Papyrus leaned close to her ear and whispered, "I was going to offer to make you a free meal, but it seems you already ordered."

"Oh, that's awesome, I would have accepted your food," Corsina began to eat some fries. "Maybe a rain check?"

"Yes! Indeed!" He was excited and practically shouted in her ear. Corsina didn't mind; she wanted to get to know him better, considering he technically died protecting her.

On her opposite side, MK had drowned his fries with ketchup and was inhaling every bit. The human laughed and picked up her pace of eating her own plate. _This is all different. Was it because I sat at the bar? Papyrus couldn't easily drag me out; so, maybe? Did this buy us some time?_ She appreciated this extra interaction before facing the pig and cat monster; everything was peaceful and calm. But, she knew what was coming next. Or, so she thought.

Back to her left, she saw Papyrus serene and quiet, daydreaming or staring off into the distance. She took a moment to study him, unmoving and determined to stare at the blank wall in front of him as he was lost in thought. Corsina ate another handful of fries before nudging him with her elbow.

"You're like a hundred miles away," she said after he snapped himself back to reality, "What's up?"

"Oh, my apologies," he cleared his throat. "It's just my friends."

"Got into a fight?"

"I don't think so," he confessed, "We were all suppose to hang out last night, at my house. But they went out with my brother and never came back."

 _Missing monsters? How big is this underground that they can disappear?_

"Yo! What?" MK chimed in and glanced around Corsina to address Papyrus, "Was Undyne with them?"

Papyrus nodded, "She, Alphys, and Sans are still gone. I don't know where they went. It's normal for Sans to drift around, but not them. Even Sans comes back when the joke's over. I just can't tell what the joke is this time," he scratched the top of his skull.

"So Undyne's missing?!" MK hopped off his barstool, "Yo! We gotta find her!"

"MK, she's more than capable to handle herself."

"Bu-But!"

"Listen, I would love to continue searching for all them, but circumstances changed," Papyrus stood up, more calmly and placed a gloved hand on Corsina's shoulder; she stopped eating and glanced at him, "As captain of the Royal Guard, I, the Great Papyrus, am obligated to see the human escorted safely to the queen."

"Escorted?" Corsina repeated. _Is that way he defended me the first time?_

"The most powerful warrior ever is missing, and you want to-"

"I don't want to abandon my friends!" he snapped, subconsciously tightening his grip on Corsina. "But, I have no choice. You know very well that she isn't safe here."

MK seemed to pout, but his silence let them know that he understood that keeping the human safe was the right thing to do. Corsina's gaze traced the bar; thankfully only a handful of monsters were staring at the trio. There was an awkward tension, and Corsina didn't like it. She shoved a few fries into her mouth and then jumped off the stool. Both Papyrus and MK stared at her as she stepped closer to the exit. She didn't hear them walking, so she turned and shrugged her shoulders at them.

"What's the hold up? The faster I get to the queen, the faster you guys can resume your search for Undyne and the others."

"Mhm," Papyrus hummed and snapped back to his joyous self, "You're right!" He stepped forward with his long legs and reached Corsina quickly, "I like the way you think, human!" He patted her back, with a bit more force than necessary, and waved MK to join them, "We have a mission! What are you waiting for?"

MK over empathized his eye roll, but he quickly joined the human and skeleton by the front of the bar.

"What about the fries?" Grillby shouted at the trio, slightly annoyed.

"Put it on my brother's tab," Papyrus replied and walked out of the door first.

Corsina glanced back at the fire monster, she could somehow tell that he was glaring at all of them. "They were delicious and thank you!" she nodded and followed the Royal Guardsman out of the bar.

This was also different than the first time. Around the corner from Grillby's, the pig and cat monster were waiting for them. It didn't take more than a few steps before Papyrus, Corsina, and MK were face to face with the two nameless monsters. Well, that wasn't totally inaccurate; Corsina had given them names, they were just very inappropriate.

Back to his normal self, Papyrus smiled at them and said, "Greetings! How are you-"

"Turn the human over to us, and you won't get hurt," the pig monster snorted.

 _You know how this turns out, so change it!_ But, how?

"What? No way; she's hanging out with us. If you would like to join us-"

Knowing what to look for, Corsina saw the pig monster's hand grow green. Her body jolted forward and her muscles reacted before her brain realized what she was doing. The human used her weight to shove Papyrus out of the way. She had saved him from the initial attack, but at her own cost. The glowing green trough smacked her in the arm. Her body was forced from the ground, flew across the main street and cracked against the lining of trees. Corsina slid to the snow and lay on her stomach.

She heard the cracking of bones and wooden fixtures as Papyrus and the pig monster battled it out again. With hazy vision, she forced herself to watch the fight; maybe Papyrus had a better chance defeating him since the sneak attack didn't hit him. _You better kick his ass, Papyrus!_

"O-o-oh g-g-god!" a shaky voice came from further in the trees and shrubbery.

Corsina glanced around, attempting to find the source, "Hello?" After she called out, the human felt something stuck in her throat and coughed it out. Under her head, she saw scarlett blood. _Oh sweet Jesus._

"A-are you al-al-al-alright?" the voice was closer. Corsina was having issues seeing, but she did her best to face the source of the timid voice. All she could definitely make out was their face was smudged with something black and wore glasses. "O-oh! Y-you're a-a-a h-human?!"

"An-and you're a monster," Corsina's voice was raspy and more rough, "You gotta help Papyrus!"

"B-but I don't f-f-fight!"

"Please! He'll die without help!"

"I-I-I c-can't h-help him. I w-wish Undyne w-w-was h-here…"

"Wait, you're Alphys?"

"H-how di-did yo-"

Their conversation was cut short when MK shouted in agony. Adrenaline began pumping through Corsina and she immediately jumped up. She dashed through the bushes and out into the main road. The pig monster was holding Mk by the neck, just like the previous time. _Hell, they're losing!_ Papyrus was up against the cat monster, dodging and rolling out of the way of claws. Tapping the lucky charm her father got her, she forced her weak legs to rush to MK and the pig. She didn't know what she was going to do, but this time, she wouldn't silently watch as her friends die. She was going to save them, somehow.

The pig monster saw her running towards him and threw MK in her general direction. Through her blurry vision, she recognized his path and maneuvered around him; but she didn't stop. The pig monster didn't appreciate her dodging the child, so his hand began to glow green. She didn't find the trough until it was too late.

From under the snow, the trough appeared shot out from the ground; with Corsina on it. The human was brought straight up into the air. She screamed at the new direction and held onto the magical wooden trough as they together reached ascended. Papyrus' voice was heard from below; but she had no way of knowing what he said. Once Corsina had reached a high enough point, the trough faded and disappeared under her; negative g's tugged at her stomach and gravity pulled her frail body downward. _What a cheap shot!_

As she fell, she didn't realize that the pig was making more troughs appear and swing at her. It was the thanks of Papyrus and his bones to deflect the mid-air hits. But on the ground, he was out-numbered. As he preoccupied himself with protecting Corsina from the pig, the cat used his claw attack to pin the skeleton to the side of a building. He fought through the pain and made more bones to shield Corsina as she fell. Before she hit the ground, he made a cube around her and eased her to the snow.

It wasn't a graceful descent, but she was alive.

Once her body touched the ground, she forced herself upright and shook the blurry lines out of her vision. The urge to throw up was great, but she was far more concerned about Papyrus. She could just make out his tall frame pinned against a building struggling to free himself.

Corsina was about to run over, but the pig spoke to her, "Human!" She stopped and looked to the other side. The second monster was next to MK, who was still on the ground. One of his glowing troughs were circling over him, threatening death for the child. She bared her teeth in frustration. _What the hell is this?_ "Surrender, or your friends die!"

"You son of a-" she took a defensive step to the pig, but was silenced by the trough jerking down a little; it was hanging over MK more closely.

"Watch your mouth, human," the cat said behind her, "Jord doesn't like a foul mouth."

 _Well, Jord is an ass._

She wasn't sure what she should do. Her hand brushed against the wooden totem in her pocket. Corsina pulled out the three eyed, two tailed serpent totem and traced the bottom half. _Trace the tails when making a decision._ But was this really a tough decision? Of course she would sacrifice herself for her friends.

 _But, what that cause another reset?_ Was it her death that brought on that phenomenon? Or was it Papyrus' death? The child at the village instructed her to not let anyone die; was she included, or was it strictly monsters? The decision was easy; but what could happen after was what was making her hesitive.

Rubbing the three eyes of the serpent, Corsina glanced back at Papyrus; hoping he would continue to fight. Although he was a skeleton, the strain and defeat was written on his face. That made the human's heart drop to her feet. But, Papyrus wasn't looking at Corsina; instead, his gaze was at the treeline. The exhausted human followed his eyes and found Alphys peering through. Using her hands, and silently mouthing the words, Corsina recognized the word, "waterfall." _There's a waterfall under the mountain? Is that where they'd take me?_ She also thought she saw the words "echo" and "flower." But all three were meaningless to her.

"I'll go with you," Corsina shoved the luck charm back in her pocket, and raised her heavy arms in surrender.

"What are you doing?! Human, run!" Papyrus snapped at her.

"Go with?" Jord laughed at her, "You misunderstand."

Appearing completely around her, large green troughs surrounded her. Corsina held no resistance to the wooden fixtures. _Death number two, here I come._

"S-stop!" Alphys jumped from the treeline and waved her hands at Jord. "I-I-I'm r-right here! L-Leave th-the h-human a-a-alone!"

"Hey," the cat monster's sleek voice was laced with excitement. "It's the escaped prisoner."

 _Prisoner? So, Alphys was captured, is it safe to assume Undyne and Papyrus' brother was as well?_ Is that why she spelled out waterfall? Was she brought to somewhere by a waterfall? But, what does "echo" and "flower" have anything to do with a waterfall?

"Good, we can bring her back, along with the human's soul." The pig monster chuckled and clenched his fist.

Corsina's body was quickly splintered between all of the troughs and broken. Bones shattered, skin ripped apart, and blood oozing in the cracks of the troughs. At least this death was faster than the first. But the pain was twice as bad. She didn't suffer as long.

* * *

As if by magic, Corsina pushed away from the unknown child and landed on her butt again. As her body ached in unimaginable ways, she frantically looked around. She realized much faster that she had died and was brought back to the village with the child.

Although every muscle in her body was screaming in torture, she wasted no time gaining more information from the child.

"Is there a waterfall in the underground?" her breath was lost, and her heart was racing.

The question clearly caught them off guard, but they answered regardless,"Yes."

"Does the words 'echo' or 'flower' mean anything?"

"There are echo flowers by waterfalls. They are special flowers that repeat the last thing they hear."

"So, they can be useful?"

A stern nod from the child in the striped sweater.

"And when I die, that's when it resets?"

Another nod. The child quickly turned and walked away.

 _I'm making progress, I think._


	5. Chapter 4: Losing Hope

There was another reset; Sans was quicker to realize the shift. He knew he was captured by the pig monsters, what Undyne was threatening to the guards, and even heard Alphys shudder in fear in her cell. Once all three of them were locked up, for a third time, Sans dropped his head in defeat. Apparently, having Alphys escape was not helping the reset problem. With a gloom expression, Sans dropped his head and sat on the ground against a wall. He's had her escape twice, and they suffered a reset both times. Falling back into his old ways, the short skeleton decided that he wouldn't do anything; he would just pretend to sleep.

"Sans, Sans?" Undyne called after a few minutes of silence, "You okay?"

Honestly, he was depressed; helpless to his friends and at the mercy of these resets. He would never tell them this, so he remained silent.

"I-I th-th-think he's s-sleeping?" Alphys answered for him.

Within her annoyed grunt, Sans could hear her eye roll and traces of disgust were evident.

"Pl-please c-calm d-d-down," the royal scientist said.

 _Yeah, because having you worked up will not help us._ Sans was bitter in his own thoughts, but knew better than to say that aloud. Undyne was strong enough to kick a stone wall down, that was proven twice, but at the moment, her rage will not be useful. Rather than speaking his mind or sharing his knowledge, Sans tried to snore as convincingly as he could.

"Man, that skeleton can sleep anywhere," Undyne muttered from her cell.

"U-Undyne, wh-what a-a-are we gon-gonna d-do?"

"Hell if I know," the warrior cracked her shoulder joints and neck.

"I-I-I guess w-we ha-have to-to w-w-wait fo-for n-n-now."

"That's stupid," she sighed with great frustration, "But what choice do we have?"

Sans could hear his friends shuffling around their cells and eventually sat down. Between the three monsters, Sans could feel the defeat and broken morals emit from the small hole with bars. _Sorry guys, but I'm not going to try a third time at an escape. Why would it work this time and not before? Best to wait and see._ With one last pretend snore, Sans rested his head on the wall and began to drift into sleep.

This was attempt number three to climb Mt. Ebott for Corsina. With her trusted lucky charm in her pocket and small bag of snacks, the human followed the same path upward. She was more accustomed to the area and remembered more little things about the forest. Corsina was able to cut off the initial hiker's trail and entered the denser forest towards the pitfall into the underground. Her pace was quicker and her multitasking and eating was getting better with each passing time. She prayed that this was the last time trekking up the setting for her favorite bedtime story.

Because she was more familiar with the land, she was able to reach the clearing of trees just as the sun was rising. She examined the surrounding area and was able to finally see the hole to the world below. Standing at the very edge, Corsina took a moment to take mental pictures of the scene; two large oaks were on the west side, a stony rock patch to the south, and the circle clearing just past the shrubbery on the northeast direction. She even studied the outline of the peak and surface of Mt. Ebott. With one massive intake of air, Corsina slipped her pack off and tossed it to the side.

"MK, Papyrus, I won't let anything happen to you. Even you, Alphys. I swear, no one is going to die. I'll figure out what's causing all this," reaching into her pant pocket, she retrieved her wooden statue and rubbed the middle eye of the snake. She wasn't scared; more determined than anything. She witnessed first hand what power these monster wield, and she was not terrified; all she wanted was to right the wrongs that were going on under her feet.

With another deep breath, Corsina shoved the totem back in her pocket and jumped down.

Corsina and MK's first interaction was slightly different because she had reached the underground before he could run through the ruins to meet up with Undyne. Essentially, the location had changed, but the conversation was the same. Corsina was even getting used to the ruins and vaguely recalling the right passageways to take to reach the snowy forest. _Hopefully, I won't have to run this maze by myself; I have no intentions of dying a third time._

The duo reached the snow covered ground outside of the ruins quickly. Their small talk was the same, but Corsina wondered if she should say something new. However, once they began to walk through the taller trees and have the opportunity to have another snowball fight, Corsina simply enjoyed their game. Her mission was grim, but that didn't mean she couldn't have some fun along the way. Besides, this was still MK's first meeting of Corsina, she had to become friends with him again.

After their childish game in the forest, sliding across the icy paths was next. At this point, she was comfortable enough to run and slid straight through. MK was impressed; but that only brought on a competition as to who could make it to the other side first. Another game that Corsina enjoyed greatly. Obviously, MK was having fun too.

Even with their diversions, it seemed that they reached Snowdin faster than other previous times. _Maybe I have a chance of avoiding Jord and his friend?_ Corsina smiled at her little yellow monster friend as he bounced to the front door of Grillby's.

"Yo! I don't know about you, but I'm starving!" He used his tail to open the door and held it for her.

The human glanced down the main street to double check her time before Jord and the other monster would show up; she didn't see any ominous figures that matched their physiques. "I am faminish!" she grinned and entered the bar.

The bar scene was nearly the same with all of the monsters falling silent as Corsina walked to the bar counter. MK ordered two plates of fries, Grillby nodded to him and left to make it, and the citizens of Snowdin began to whisper about the human. Corsina was not quite fazed by their judging; she had dealt with them three times now, she just waited patiently for Papyrus to appear.

As if by queue, Corsina heard, "A human?! Where?"

Smirking once again, she turned around on the stool to face the tall skeleton.

Taking a few steps forward and pointing definitively, he asked his favorite question, "Human! Do you enjoy puzzles?"

"Who doesn't?" she shrugged her shoulders.

"Mh, what is your opinion on-" Papyrus still wasn't able to finish his question.

"Papyrus," Grillby pushed through his kitchen door and interrupted the skeleton, "Let her eat. You can't expect her to figure out any puzzles on an empty stomach." The fire monster laid down a plate of crispy fries for her and MK. He gave a slight warning look at Papyrus, as if to behave, and returned to wiping his glassware.

"Mhm, excellent point, Grillby!" Papyrus took a seat next to Corsina and leaned against the bar. After a moment, he leaned close to Corsina's ear and whispered, "I was going to offer to make you a free meal, but it seems you already ordered."

"That would've been incredibly nice, maybe a rain check?" she suggested while she started eating.

"Yes! Indeed!" He shouted in her ear again, but she just giggled it off and continued to eat. The human wondered what kind of food he was going to make for her. She decided that if she did have to redo this one more time, she would figure out a way to accept his meal without fighting Jord.

For a few minutes, MK and Corsina ate silently as Papyrus began to stare blankly at the back wall again. She knew why he was distant; his brother, Undyne, and Alphys went missing last night. Well, it was safe to assume all three had been taken prisoners and transported to an area with waterfalls and echo flowers. She wanted to share her knowledge with him, but it seemed that the entire world was unaware of the resets, how could she prove that they were by some waterfall? No, it was better to play it smarter and have him bring her by the waterfalls and she look for them. _If we can get out of Snowdin_. Regardless of her choice to retain her information, she nudged the skeleton with her elbow. "You're like a thousand miles away," she said after he snapped himself back to reality, "What's up?"

"Oh, my apologies," he cleared his throat. "It's just my friends."

 _I know, I'm going to find them for you. But, I need to lead the conversation towards leaving and the location of a waterfall. How can I do that?_ "Did something happen to them?"

"Geez, I hope not," the skeleton sighed, "We were all suppose to hang out last night, at my house. But they went out with my brother and never came back."

 _Crap, that's what he said last time._

"Yo! What?" MK chimed in and glanced around Corsina to address Papyrus, "Was Undyne with them?"

Papyrus nodded, "She, Alphys, and Sans are still gone. I don't know where they went. It's normal for Sans to drift around, but not them. Even Sans comes back when the joke's over. I just can't tell what the joke is this time," he scratched the top of his skull.

"So Undyne's missing?!" MK hopped off his barstool, "Yo! We gotta find her!"

"MK, she's more than capable to handle herself."

"Bu-But!"

"Listen, I would love to continue searching for all them, but circumstances changed," Papyrus stood up, more calmly and placed a gloved hand on Corsina's shoulder; she waited for him to finish, "As captain of the Royal Guard, I, the Great Papyrus, am obligated to see the human escorted safely to the queen."

 _Maybe I'll actually meet her._

"The most powerful warrior ever is missing, and you want to-"

"I don't want to abandon my friends!" he snapped, subconsciously tightening his grip on Corsina. "But, I have no choice. You know very well that she isn't safe here."

 _Damn, everything was the same._ She swore under her breath as she wasn't making any progress. That was true, but she remembered that she found Alphys in the shrubbery after she intervened Papyrus and Jord's fight. _I know where she is, maybe she can convince Papyrus to take the detour to rescue Undyne and Sans?_ It was worth a shot; she didn't have any other ideas.

After another bite of fries, Corsina slid off the stool and bound for the door. Again, they didn't follow immediately. But this was different; she was on a mission to find Alphys. She left the bar, not forgetting to express gratitude to Grillby, and rushed to the trees that served as a perimeter on the south side. Corsina took a moment to replay the last encounter with Jord and the cat monster; they were in front of Grillby's, she shoved Papyrus out of the way, and was knocked somewhere in the foliage. She stepped into the treeline and attempted to get to the right tree that she smacked into and found her. When she was satisfied that she was close enough to the correct location, she lightly called out.

"Alphys!" her voice was hushed in case Jord was near, "Alphys, are you there?" There was no answer. Corsina remembered that she had a stutter and seemed more introverted; so she's more reclusive and reserved. "It's okay, I'm a friend."

"Human!" Papyrus' voice was approaching. "What are you doing in there?"

 _Where the hell are you?!_

"Yo! People are gonna think you're weird!"

"Alphys!" she hoped that Papyrus' familiar voice would cause her to stir or reveal herself; there was no such luck.

"We have no time for hide n' seek, human!"

She hesitated, hoping to scope the area one more time to find her, but only snow covered bushes, ferns, and trees were visible. _What the hell? She was right here!_ Huffing in a blended emotion of confusion and frustration, Corsina went back to her friends.

"What were you doing in there?" Papyrus crossed his arms; for a moment he resembled a father scowling a child.

"Sorry," she replied, "I thought I saw someone with glasses. But no one was there."

"Ah," he dropped his arms and relaxed a little, "Well, next time, inform one of us. As I've said, it's not safe for you to be alone."

"Yo! What he said!"

"I will. So, shall we head out then?" She suggested; but not before taking a glance down the main street of Snowdin. Jord and his companion was still missing from the monsters. _Why are they missing too? I thought everything reset after I died? So why are things really different?_

For a while, Papyrus was leading the way away from Snowdin. Corsina couldn't help herself from being awestruck by the new area; this was the first time she was able to get out of Snowdin. As the trio continued on, the weather was becoming less chilly and the air became more damp. At the end of a long stretch of wet slush that was once snow, there was an entrance to another cave. Overhead, a large waterfall was covering over half of it. With a refreshing mist damping her face and clothes, Corsina wondered if this was the waterfall Alphys was referring before the last reset.

Tilting her head upward, Corsina stalled long enough for MK to notice. "Yo! What's the hold up?"

"It's astonishing; having such a massive waterfall under the mountain. Beautiful."

"Human! This is only one of many waterfalls! You will have your chance to stare at more. Let us continue!" Papyrus shouted at them to catch up.

 _More than one waterfall? Crap, which one should I look around?_ She kept her thoughts to herself and silently followed the skeleton into the next major area. As they ventured forth, Corsina and MK were walking side by side behind Papyrus. All three were slowly getting wet from the mist by the waterfalls and puddles on the ground. The cave they entered was darker than Snowdin and the surrounding area, but as they went deeper in, the ceiling began to twinkle. By their feet, strange looking plants would gently pulsate to help light the way. There was a variation of constant drips along the cavern and echo of the more steady flow of waterfalls.

Papyrus was not lying when he mentioned numerous waterfalls in this area; this was another scientific impossibly along with snow falling by the exit of the ruins. _What's keeping the water going? What type of ecosystem do they have where plants can grow with absolutely no sunlight? Interesting._ The trio reached a point of the cavern where tall fern grass was growing. The skeleton used his height to glance over the top and held out a hand to Corsina.

"Human! I'll guide us through!"

Smiling upward to him, she grabbed his hand and allowed him to enter. Before she was completely covered by the sloshy grass, she used her open hand to hold onto MK's head; she didn't want him to get lost either.

This was when she first noticed a pair of glowing green eyes. It was just a flash, but Corsina had definitely seen those eyes before. _Someone's following us._

Papyrus had successfully led them through the giant grass and emerged on the opposite side. As they took a moment to brush off the excess water, Corsina's gaze transfixed on another sprouting plant; a soft hue of blue was illuminating off of it.

"What's that?" she muttered, not expecting an answer.

"Ah! It's in echo flower! They're called that because they repeat the last thing they hear! See?" Papyrus knelt down next to the flower and said, "I, The Great Papyrus, shall protect you!"

Once he stepped away, Corsina leaned down to listen to the flower. "I, The Great Papyrus, shall protect you!"

"Woah, that's cool!"

"Yo! Are we done playing with flowers? We gotta get you to the queen and then find Undyne!"

"You're right, no time to gawk about!" Papyrus brushed off the rest of the droplets on his chest and stepped away from the echo flower. MK bounced after him; leaving Corsina to have a brief moment alone with the bio-illuminated sprout.

She glanced back to the tall ferns and whispered to the flower, "I see you." Then she dashed after her friends.

Since then, they followed in a more single-file formation; it also made it easier for Corsina to poke around the few waterfalls with echo flowers by them. However, if she lagged behind too much, Papyrus or MK would demand her to catch up. Regardless if she was searching by waterfalls or keeping in step with her duo monsters, she made sure to continuously peek behind them. Occasionally, she would see the pair of glowing green eyes.

More forward down the not so direct path of the cavern, the group of three had to pass a wooden bridge that had many branching passages. In a line, the group of misfits glanced across the massively incomplete bridge.

"That doesn't seem so good," Corsina voiced her concerns.

"Yo! It's not that bad."

"He is right, human! As the Captain of The Royal Guard, I've crossed this bridge many times! Just, stay close to me." He flashed the human girl a smile and gave a thumb's up.

 _That's not too reassuring._

Before any of them could step onto the wood path, the wind behind them shifted and changed. They didn't have a chance to realize what happened; a large black claw appeared and wrapped around Corsina. Although the razor sharp tips didn't pierce her body, she was dragged backward and away from Papyrus and MK. The only pain the paw was causing was moderate pressure as it reclined back, but her brain remembered the very first time the cat monster's claw was wrapped around her. Her muscles tensed and cramped up while her heart skipped a beat. _Oh shit, he's gonna kill me!_

Luckily, Papyrus' reflexions were quick enough to stop this. He used his blue magic to snap a bone into existence and break the connect between Corsina and the assailant. The claw disappeared and Corsina's limp body rolled on the damp ground.

"Human! Run!" the skeleton ran to her and leaped over her still body. Standing tall and defensive, Papyrus summoned more bones as a warning. "Get up, and go!"

"Yo! C'mon!" MK begged from the edge of the bridge.

The human's breath was already lost by the time she pushed herself up and looked up at Papyrus. He was guarding her, but his gaze was on her. Corsina raised an eyebrow as him as he stared at her. "What is it?!" She immediately thought she was hurt or pinned, but nothing was holding her back. She even looked around the ground; there was no blood.

"Your soul," he muttered, just barely loud enough for her to hear,

"My what?" she ran her hands over body quickly; there was still nothing wrong with her.

"Papyrus! Look out!" MK shouted from behind.

For whatever reason, the skeleton was distracted by her for a significant duration of time for the cat monster to use another claw and smack him out of the way. Corsina gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. From the shadows, the cat appeared, with a slowly moving tail and green tint in his eye.

"Did you see that, human?" he purred.

A femur spun into view and slapped the cat away; he was still standing, but his attention was diverted to Papyrus, who was holding strong.

Corsina didn't wait for another order from the skeleton before dashing towards MK and the bridge. The cat monster hissed at her and ran to follow her. Papyrus was last to reach the bridge.

It was a mad chase; MK was leading Corsina the correct way across, with the cat monster hot on her heels. Every chance he got, he would summon another claw to grab Corsina. She did her best to sidestep, roll, or dodge the shadow claws, but for more than she'd care to admit, she was caught. If it wasn't for Papyrus, she would have died at the very start of this wild goose chase. He was able to use his bones to break the connect and free her. She kept running as fast as she could behind MK.

Monster Kid was quicker than her, and would dash around corners and hop over small gaps in the wood. Corsina was nowhere as fit as he was and struggled to keep up. Again, it was ultimately Papyrus saving her from the shadow claws that appeared and threatened her life. While swearing as she sprinted, Corsina slowly gained more distance between her and MK. _Jesus, he's fast!_

She was brought to a large square platform on the bridge with multiple ways to continue. Corsina stood in the middle and looked around at the options; MK and his bright yellow shirt was gone. _Hell! Which way did he go?_ She had lost her only guide. Out of breath and utterly lost, Corsina faced the way she had come and attempted to see Papyrus. She was grasping at straws, but she had no choice. _Please Papyrus, give him the slip and help me!_

When had her luck ever helped her? Rather than finding her skeleton friend behind her, a small horde of shadow claws reached out to her. Stepping back, Corsina held her breath as she somehow managed to avoid all of them. The first wave disappeared and then a barrage of quick moving claws swatted at her. Jumping away, she was nicked a few times; these claws were meant to slow her down, not outright kill her. _Oh great, he's playing with me!_ She bounced back further and further, until she realized she had reached a dead end.

Glancing over her shoulder, she peered over the edge of the bridge and pondered her chances of surviving the fall. Corsina definitely heard water below, but they wasn't any particular way of her knowing how deep. Heaving a heavy chest, she ran out of time as a loud purr of enjoyment echoed behind her. Facing her foe, Corsina stood tall and relaxed her shoulders.

"So, what'll it be, human?" The cat monster seemed to spit the last word, but gave a wicked grin nonetheless. "Jump to your death, or fight me?"

 _My death, you say?_ Because of the resets, she was actually tempted to step off the ledge; maybe have a less painful passing than being crushed by his shadow claws. It was unsettling that she was finding comfort in the possibly of dying. The underground definitely had different rules. _If I die again, there'll be another reset, so let's make it count._ Hiding her smugness, she decided to pry as much information as she could from him before the next reset.

"I was hoping for a third option," she offered, but the monster narrowed his green eyes at her. "I know about Undyne, Alphys, and Sans."

The three names caused his eyes to snap open wide and his body to flinch. There was a brief moment where Corsina had leverage; but this did not last long. The cat clicked back to anger and summoned a claw under the human. Her small amount of confidence caused her to ignore the sharp digits and succumb to being wrapped around the attack. She gasped as he tightened the grip, but not enough to kill her.

"How in the world do you know?" He hissed while taking long strides to glare deep into Corsina's eyes. Of course, he didn't give her a chance to actually answer, rather, he slightly increased the pressure around her. "You're just a human, how could you possibly know?! Huh?" He bared his teeth and balled his own fists, which were lightly glowing green. "And what's the deal with your soul? What kind of human are you?" The obvious disgust in his voice brought Corsina to force herself to open her eyes.

"M-my soul?" She gasped. With what little wiggle room she had, Corsina followed the cat monster's harsh gaze downward, at her torso. A glowing white heart was visible; it was trembling and pulsating in beat to her own heart. "Wh-what the-?"

"Regardless!" The monster squeezed again and she was popped back upright. "What else do you know?"

She held back a shout of agony long enough to get her bearings together to form a sentence. "I know you're keeping them behind a waterfall surrounded by echo flowers."

Another anger induced squeeze and a step closer to be mere inches from her nose, "That's why you were running this way. Thought you could break them out, huh?" Corsina was tugged away from the cat monster and jerked still. She pained to open an eye in order to see what was happening; the shadow claw had moved to the absolute edge of the wooden bridge and was holding her over. "Think you're the hero here? You humans are the worst! I'll make sure that you all get what you deserve!"

Corsina was still praying for a miracle. Oddly enough she saw something that gave her hope; a yellow aura that matched the cat monster's. She thought it was Papyrus and had a quick second of relief. However, the cat monster glanced to the aura and nodded towards it. _No, no!_ Who was this other monster? It wasn't Jord, his magically aura was orange. How big was this organization they were in? And how much trouble were Undyne and the others truly in?

When the cat monster turned back to Corsina, she saw something different about his face. Still furry and had whiskers, but he seemed defeated; as if he was being forced to commit these actions against her. "Why are you doing this? Please! I can help you! What does he have over you?" Corsina begged at the cat.

"Larissy, my wife," he whispered with shame and regret laced around every word.

This hesitation was noticed by the yellow outlined monster and he called out to the pair. "Marq, do it." The voice was benevolent and strong. Whoever he was, he had authority over the cat.

Without a second thought, Marq's eyes flashed green and the claw around Corsina crushed her. The human shouted in great distress as her bones crumbled under the pressure; her lungs were pierced with her snapped ribs causing her to cough up blood onto the bridge. With twisted legs and broken spine, Corsina's body was released. While she was being crushed, she didn't notice that Papyrus summoned a femur and broke the connection. But it was too late. Her skeleton friend rushed to the edge and attempted to grab her; he missed. Papyrus used more bones to cradle around Corsina's body. It still didn't matter. The last thing Corsina remembered was the horrified look on Papyrus' face as everything went black.

The reset happened and she was brought back in time. Her body convulged and she fell over on the dirt ground. She initially curled up into a ball and wept. Although she wasn't dying anymore, it sure as hell felt like it. Twitching hands, stinging chest pains, and the never ending feeling of not being able to breath made Corsina outright cry. She didn't want to hold back; maybe the child with the striped shirt could help her again.

After an appropriate amount of time past, Corsina sniffed and wiped her cheeks. Although she was still shaking, she pushed her weak body up and inhaled large, controlled breaths. This was death number three, and it certainly wasn't easier than the previous two. However, something had changed.

When Corsina glanced around, expecting to see the child and a semi-busy market road, there were trees and bushes along with golden flowers. Birds were chirping on the treetops, lizards and squirrels were fussing about on the floor. Before her, the hole that led to the underground was taunting her.

"What the hell-?" Her rough voice asked to no one; she was now alone in the forest. _I'm at the entrance, but I've always went back to the village. Why?_ Corsina racked her brain in hopes to figure this out. Then, she remembered that the child mentioned that if she dies in the underground, she resets to the last place she felt determined. _So, I don't even get my helpful guide anymore?_ Now, she was hopelessly on her own.

This realization brought her to tears again. She wrapped her arms around her knees and silently cried in the forest.


End file.
